What??? I don't understand the post about a tickle plant. Are you suggesting that for Meredith or her mother to give at either this upcoming coffee or the wedding Meredith is going to in July? Frankly, they sound pretty strange to me and I don't understand their significance to brides??????? If I am just dense, someone please clue me in!

Great finds! I always hesitate to stop at garage sales after the first hour or two because I figure most things worth buying have probably been picked up already...maybe I need to be a little more optimistic!

Great buy on the shoes. I am always surpised at the price of plastic shoes. I can not wear plastic shoes. My feet need to breath for me to be comfortable. While shopping with my grandsons recently we saw some plastic CARS shoes at Wal*Mart. They cost $10.00. No way in the world I was going to spend that on shoes like that. Anyway, I am glad you found some pretty shoes for your daughter. Happy shopping for the wedding. Roxie

Oh, those ornaments are wonderful! What a lovely idea for showering a newly married couple! I will have to file that away for future use.

I am with you on the "recycling." I spent $30 on MYSELF (gasp!) this weekend at a yard sale. I found 8 new tops, 2 pairs of pants, a skirt, a dress and 2 pairs of shoes (not easy for a size 10+ foot!) And they were nice clothes. The kind of things my mother likes to see me wear :D Most of them were on dry cleaner's hangers (some with tags from the cleaners still attached!) They won't get that kind of treatment at my house, but I will still be good to them.

I don't know what leads people to get rid of practically brand-new clothes; I like to think that whoever sends nice things to the Good Will or into the yard sale pile has recently lost a bunch of weight and doesn't want to keep the too-large clothes around as a temptation to fall into bad habits. Thinking that way helps me avoid looking down on someone for spending too much money on clothes that they hardly wear before they get rid of them. I could imagine all sorts of less pleasant scenarios for the previous owners of my pre-owned wardrobe, but I like to think that they all got skinnier than me :D

I, too, think ornaments are a great idea. I once bought a ton of them at 75% off after Christmas to give to my neice that got married the following fall. Are these for your mom to give to the bride since you said hostess gift? If so and they are not for you to give, what kind of ornament are you going to make?

This was a great find. I purchased a box of newlywed Christmas Ornaments for my daughter in laws shower...quite a hit. I paid $100 for it! You are one frugal shopper...I am NOW a frugal shopper as of Nov 2007..forced into it by purchasing such items as $100 shower gifts LOLOLOL...all caught up with me and now i am learning great lessons. Love your blog.